


Shark in the Water

by 0bviousLeigh



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, Shark is a Shark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-22 21:13:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7454134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0bviousLeigh/pseuds/0bviousLeigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yuma could swear a Shark saved him from drowning</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shark in the Water

**Author's Note:**

> Has this been done before?

“I’m not kidding you,” Yuma whines from his hospital bed. “A shark saved me!”

“And I’m telling you,” Akari says, “There was no way a shark could get you on the beach. Yuma, you nearly drowned, it’s quite possible you were hallucinating.”

“I know what I saw!” Yuma cries, and he starts coughing, a deep cough that leaves his chest aching.

Akari pets his hair, uncharacteristically soft. “Alright, no more talking. You need to rest, and I’m going to see if the nurses took a look at your x-ray yet.”

“I’m not lying,” Yuma insists. “I saw a shark.”

Akari tucks him in, kisses his head, and leaves.

Yuma rolls onto his side with a whine and mutters, “It was a shark, I saw it.”

 

 

Yuma is released from the hospital the next day with a warning to take it easy for a few days, and an information packet on rip currents. Akari makes him stay in bed for another two days, and it’s a whole week before she lets him back on the beach.

“She acts like I’ve lost my mind,” Yuma tells Kotori and Tetsuo. “Like she can’t trust me anymore.”

“She’s just worried,” Kotori says. “You nearly died.”

“I know, and I know it’s serious but…it’s not like I went looking for a rip current.”

They walk on the edge of the tide’s reach, water splashing over their toes. Yuma looks out at the water, but he doesn’t see any marine life.

“Did you guys see anything near me when I went under?” Yuma asks.

Tetsuo shakes his head. “But we were focused on waving the life guard over, maybe we missed something.”

Kotori adds, “I think a shark would be more likely to bite you, not push you towards shore.”

But Yuma knows what he saw, and he saw a shark coming at him.

 

 

Two weeks after he nearly drowns, Yuma borrows Tetsuo’s family’s speed boat and takes it out at sunset. He brings a cooler with a frozen fish in it. Once he’s far enough away from the shore, Yuma kills the boat’s engine and yells out at the water.

“Hey, shark who saved me! Are you out here? I brought you a fish!”

Yuma squints at the water, but sees nothing.

“Sharks don’t have ears.”

Yuma shrieks and falls to the floor of the boat, landing hard on his rear end. When he gets to his feet, he’s alone, but the same voice calls out again.

“They also prefer live fish.”

Yuma scrambles to the other side of the boat and looks over the edge. There’s a boy with purple hair in the water.

“What are you doing out here?!” Yuma demands, feeling his face heat up. “Don’t you know there are sharks in these waters? Get your butt on this boat.”

The boy grins and Yuma screams again.

“Sorry,” the boy says around a mouth full of sharp, pointed teeth. “Can’t do that.” He dives gracefully down into the water, allowing Yuma to see the long shark tail that trails after him.

Yuma is silent for a minute, then he screams again.

“You scream a lot.”

Another scream, and Yuma falls on his butt once more. He moves to the other side of the boat, and the boy in the water grins at him again.

“Surprised?” The boy asks. “Not the mermaid you were expecting?”

“I wasn’t expecting anything!” Yuma hollers. “And what kind of prank are you pulling?”

There’s a ripple from under the water and the boy vaults up, grabs the railing on the boat, and leans into Yuma’s face. He bares his teeth, and Yuma can tell that they’re jagged, like real shark’s teeth.

“Not a prank,” the boy hisses. “I knew you wouldn’t stop looking for me. This is what I get for rescuing humans. You’ve been watching for me for weeks, and I want you to stop. You’re going to blow my cover.”

“Cover?” Yuma repeats.

“Yeah, I get your human trash out of the shallows before it gets into my ocean and makes my kind sick and dead. The last thing I need is you nosing around, calling attention to me.” The boy lets go of the rails and slides back into the water, his head still poking out.

“Hey,” Yuma says, “I don’t throw anything in the ocean, in fact I do my best to help keep it clean! I was chasing after a plastic bag when the rip current got me!”

The boy narrows his eyes. “Humans are all the same. You don’t really care.”

“I do!” Yuma says, “I thought you were a shark! I wasn’t afraid of you.”

“You should fear sharks,” The boy says. “They don’t respond to reason very well.”

“Is that why you’re so stubborn?” Yuma asks hotly. “I came out here because I wanted to thank you for saving me! Well the shark but, that was you, so thank you for saving me!”

The boy doesn’t answer, but he continues to glare at Yuma.

“What’s your name?” Yuma asks.

“I don’t have one,” The boy snaps.

“Well, I’m Yuma,” Yuma says, holding out his hand. “And I’ll call you Shark.”

Shark slaps Yuma’s hand away. “Look if you want to continue this conversation, meet me on that island over there.”

“Over where?” Yuma asks, looking around the boat. He spots an island what looks like a mile away. “That one?”

But when he looks back, Shark has already disappeared.

 

 

Yuma’s friendship with Shark gets off to a rocky start, but after a few weeks of going out to the island—really a glorified sandbar—and giving shark a net and a rod with a hook to make collecting trash easier, they develop a mutual respect for each other. Yuma hasn’t been swimming since the rip current caught him, and he tells Shark about it two months after their first meet.

“You seem sad about that,” Shark says from the water.

Yuma nods. “I am but…I’m afraid.”

“Of getting caught again?” Shark asks. “Do you always back down when you get caught off guard?”

“Only when I nearly die,” Yuma says quietly.

Shark sighs. “Well, I won’t let you die. So get in the water and swim with me.”

Yuma hesitates. “Promise you won’t let me die?”

Shark seems to blush. “Who else will take the trash that I collect?”

Yuma is actually touched by that. He jumps into the water without thinking, and the moment it covers his head, he panics and begins to thrash. Shark grabs him around the chest and hauls him up.

“Easy,” Shark says, “I’ve got you.”

Yuma wraps his arms around Shark’s shoulders. “Don’t let go,” Yuma begs through chattering teeth.

“I won’t,” Shark says, tightening his grip. “I’ve got you.”

And slowly, Yuma regains his confidence in the water, with Shark by his side every step of the way, just like a true friend.

**Author's Note:**

> Written while listening to V V Brown's "Shark in the Water" on loop


End file.
